Navy League Meets June 17

Submitted by the Aurora Navy League:

The Aurora Navy League Council 247 will hold its monthly dinner meeting onTuesday, June 17.  The meeting will be held in the private dining room at the rear (east side) of Grandma's Table Restaurant, 1700 Douglas Rd., Montgomery.

A reception will begin at 5:15 p.m., followed by dinner at 6 p.m. The dinner includes a choice of three entrees (fish, chicken, or beef), soup or salad, dinner rolls, vegetables, dessert, and nonalcoholic drink.  The cost is $17 all-inclusive (alcoholic drinks can be purchased separately).

The after dinner speaker will be the Honorable Chris Lauzen, Kane County Board chairman, who will be speaking on "Piercing the Veil of High Local Taxes & Fees."  He will use slides during his talk to demonstrate how this can be done, and how he has done so in his new role at the helm of Kane County.

Chris Lauzen was elected chairman of the Kane County Board in 2012 on a platform of tax reform. Prior to serving as County Chairman, he served as a Republican member of the Illinois State Senate, being first elected in 1992 and then reelected in 1996, 2000, 2002, 2006, and 2010.  He is a fiscal and social conservative.

Lauzen managed Kane County during the second year of a freeze on the property tax levy for the County, Forest Preserve, and the Fox Valley Park District.  In March 2013, he also led members of the Kane County Board to an unanimous decision to refinance a large number of County bonds. This bipartisan action saved the taxpayers over $2 million.  He has also been involved in the Longmeadow Parkway Bridge Corridor, a proposed project to build a bridge in northern Kane County over the Fox River.

His 22 year State Senate career was distinguished.  He served on several committees, including the Property Tax Reform Committee, Appropriations I, II, and III, and the Revenue Committee, where he was the ranking Republican spokesman.  In recognition of his work on these committees and his consistent, pro-employment voting record, Mr. Lauzen was honored by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce with the "Champion of Free Enterprise" award and the NFIB with the "Guardian of Small Business" award.

Throughout his service, Lauzen has supported Constitutional gun rights, right-to-life, and traditional marriage. He sponsored a large tax reduction for employers and a property tax assessment freeze for homeowners over 65 years old with income less than $35,000.  He worked to reduce property taxes on VFW and American Legion veterans' posts by 85% and placed a cap on future increases.  He also started "Illinois Porkbusters," which sought to cut $5,000,000 in wasteful spending each year from the state budget.

As a supporter of effective public education, Lauzen saw state funding for education in his senate district more than double, helped secure over $48,000,000 for school construction grants, sponsored education license plates for futures teachers' scholarships, and was the only Senator to speak against and vote "No" on providing 2/3 tuition discounts to illegal immigrants at public universities.

To counter the rising costs of medical care, Lauzen launched a Prescription Medication Pilot Program that saved participants and an average of 50% on the cost of prescriptions.